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Monday, November 20, 2017
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ILOILO – Once completed, the new fish port of Concepcion town in northern Iloilo is expected to provide adequate, quality and safe berthing of fishing vessels and improve the access to basic fish port services, according to the provincial government.
The fish port is also envisioned to make more efficient the fishery trading operations in Concepcion.
The Concepcion fish port was ravaged by super typhoon Yolanda in 2013. After a series of consultations with stakeholders here, the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) has finalized the schematic design for the port’s rehabilitation.
The port’s rehabilitation would include the following:
* conversion of the existing wet market into a passenger terminal
* improvement of restaurants/stalls
* reclamation of a new fish port complex with total pavement area of 6,500 square meters
* construction of new wet market and causeway
Funded by Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the port’s schematic design was developed after hearing around 300 comments, suggestions and concerns from various sectors that would directly benefit from the project, according to UNOPS Project Manager Paolo Zorzoli.
“We decided to invest a lot of energy in the early stages of the design. The number of meetings we held with stakeholders was enormous,” revealed Zorzoli, who worked the plan for rehab since arriving in the Philippines in April 2017.
To be sure that UNOPS is designing and producing a good infrastructure, Zorzoli said, “We have to meet and understand the people’s needs and the only way to do that is to spend time with them.”
The finalization of the schematic design, said Zorzoli, would mean that “the project is in the advanced phase of the design.”
It was presented and approved by the technical committee of Northern Iloilo Fishery Rehabilitation and Development Project during their fourth meeting held at the Governor’s Office last week.
By January 2018, Zorzoli aimed to complete the next stage of the design development – the detailed engineering design. After this would be the preparation of the construction documents and the bidding process.
During their consultation with various stakeholders, Zorzoli shared that each had totally different concerns.
“The owners of restaurants were more concerned about their future business. For the fishermen, it was the capacity of the port to dock more boats than before. Municipal and provincial officials were concerned of how we could optimize the design to minimize the cost in runing this facility,” he said.
Small items were added to the project that would make it “more interesting and compatible” to the actual needs of the community.
The design did not only focus on the fishing activity but also gave attention to its sustainability and tourism potentials.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. wrote KOICA Philippine Country Director Shin Myung Seop a letter of gratitude for the help to improve the living conditions of the people of Concepcion through a better fish port.
In a long run, said Defensor, the infrastructure should contribute to attaining inclusive growth that meets present and future needs towards sustainable fishery, raised the level of productivity, increased household income and local government unit revenues. (Jezza Nepomoceno, Iloilo Capitol/PN)
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